Greatest Hits/Every Mile a Memory 2003-2008 by Dierks Bentley

Perhaps aware that it’s a little early to go the greatest-hits route (after only three albums), Dierks deserves credit for going the extra mile to ensure that Every Mile a Memory is something special. He enlisted fans to help pick the track listing, title and cover, and 3,000 of them are credited as executive producers in the CD booklet. The executive producers did well on all counts—in particular, the choice of the wonderful non-single “Wish It Would Break” as one of the five previously unreleased live tracks speaks to their fine taste.

The hits are all here, of course, and Dierks also throws in two new tracks: “Sweet & Wild” is a nifty Radney Foster/Jay Clementi tune enlivened considerably by the always-welcome Sarah Buxton as duet partner, but “With the Band” is yet another song about touring from an artist who already has an overabundance of those in his slim but impressive catalog.